


he said we'd soldier on (and then the war would bring us peace)

by insertcleveracejoke



Series: Hadestown AU -- Let the Fates create a happy ending [19]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: But theres still some to go, Hadestown AU, M/M, No cheating, also Roman is so gay omg I love him, baby steps I guess, be not afraid, gonna miss this when it ends, guys I projected so hard in a part of this, i cant even, i guess they're opening up now??, its been what six months?, just a little but, so do the rest, this is almost at its end tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 19:47:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17413151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertcleveracejoke/pseuds/insertcleveracejoke
Summary: ('If I go back', Virgil wants to ask, 'will I see you again?')(Virgil is a coward.)





	he said we'd soldier on (and then the war would bring us peace)

Roman didn't flinch when Logan suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Virgil said he'll talk to you", the god said, wasting no time. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

Roman's entire body sagged with relief in the same way a young tree bows to the wind and he took a second to close his eyes. He would see Virgil again. For a second, he feared- how would Virgil look? Would he seem dead? Pale skin and dead eyes and- Roman hadn't yet spared a moment to think about how his (no, not his, not anymore) Virgil looked now. He decided not to think about it. It didn't matter, anyway, it shouldn't. Virgil was still himself, was still Virgil, and therefore Roman would love him no matter what.

"Breathe, singer", Logan said. Roman spared him a glance. "He's still Virgil."

Roman sneered and looked away, not trusting himself to look at the god for long. He knew himself by now- knew that the eyes like melted metal and the elegance of his movements and the strange, cold beauty of Logan's sharp eyes affected him just as much as Patton's bright smile had. In a different way, maybe, but only as different as Virgil were.

"I know. What do you know about this, though?"

The angry question would have confused someone else. Logan only sighed, though, and resigned himself to letting the rest of his own fury go. (Sometimes Logan thinks he was never truly made to hold grudges or, if he was, that Patton changed his fate, just as he had changed everything else). He stepped closer to the man and put a cold, yet comforting hand on his shoulder. Roman tried hard not to shiver.

"When I was a young god", Logan began, ignoring Roman's incredulous staring. "I fell in love, too."

"Patton."

"Yes." Logan didn't show any surprise that Roman knew, which meant… (what, exactly? How much had Patton told him?). "He came to my kingdom before the town existed. Patton was a young god, too, maybe a little younger, but not by much. You see, he wanted to see if he could make something grow in the Underground."

Against his best judgement, Roman couldn't help but smile. "Sounds like him. Did he manage?"

Logan smiled, too (like stormy clouds dancing away with the wind to show the sky, like the stars showing up at night, like the sharp, crispy air of the early morning, and Roman itched to sing). "It wouldn't be him if he didn't", the god said, and, with an elegant gesture, a black rose appeared in his hand. 

"Of course."

"We fell in love. Patton decided to stay here, with me, since I couldn't leave the Underworld for long. Until…"

"He missed the surface."

Logan nodded in acknowledge, eyes sad and soft. "He couldn't live just here, with me."

"There's a lesson somewhere at the end of that story."

"Take it as you want. You see, Patton always leaves. Six months every year, I rule alone. I don't stop him. I don't make him choose- I know what his choice would be. I won't ever make him choose, do you understand?"

Roman felt like these words meant something more than Logan was letting on. He shook his head.

"Men leave". Logan said. "Men leave, and sometimes they come back, and sometimes they don't. You can't hold them back. You can only hope you're enough for them to come back for you."

(Why did a god sound so lonely?)

(For a second, Roman would have promised anything to make Logan smile again.)

 

 

"What do I do?", Virgil looked at Patton, eyes wide with indecision and fear.

Patton hesitated. He had thought he knew the answer to that, but... (A silhouette against a wall of glass, a cold hand in his, a choice he'd made again and again out of his own volition). "You do what is right for you, whatever it is."

"But how can I know what is best for me? I- I don't-"

"My dear, breathe", Patton said gently, warm hands on Virgil's shoulders. The boy blushed and something inside Patton's heart felt a little warmer. "Do you love him?"

"Of course I do."

"I fell in love too, many years ago, you know. Fell in love with the Underground and its King. Logan- Logan was who I didn't know I needed. He's my balance. I chose to stay, and then I chose to leave, and, because I love him, I always choose to come back."

"You love Roman, too."

"I do. And I know he loves me", Patton smiled sadly. "I know you know. I would never do anything to hurt you or Logan. This isn't about me, my dear."

Virgil stayed silent. He didn't know how to say that, in a way, this was.

"Logan was kind to me. I fell in love, and I haven't really stopped falling. But I loved the surface, too. I love the sun, the stars, the sky, in sunny days and during storms. I love flowers that aren't just black. I fell in love with Roman because he's the embodiment of all of it." ('I fell in love with you', Patton wants to say, 'because you're not'. He doesn't quite know when he realized that). "I love Logan, and I love the surface, and I don't love one less just because I love the other, too."

(This feels like a metaphor, Virgil knows, and he wants to say it- wants to ask, to reach out and caress Patton's face, to kiss him, wants to see Roman, to bring him here, to find Logan-)

(It's greedy, he knows, to not want his heart broken when so many hands are holding it.)

"I think I fell in love, too", Virgil admitted in a small voice.

"Oh, dear", Patton said fondly. "It's hard not to, isn't it?"

('If I go back', Virgil wants to ask, 'will I see you again?')

(Virgil is a coward.)

"How do you do it?", he asked instead. "How do you keep your heart from breaking when it belongs to more than one person?"

"You're assuming my heart isn't already broken."

"Oh."

"Sometimes, you love more than one person, and, sometimes, you can only have one", Patton said, carefully. "Be it because they're already with somebody else, or because you don't think you'd all be a good match, or because one of them isn't there anymore… and it hurts. It hurts, because you love them, and you don't know how to deal with it, and sometimes…"

Virgil reached out and gently pulled Patton closer, holding him as the god started to shake. "It's okay."

"Sometimes it isn't", Patton whispered. "Sometimes you just need to move on, and appreciate the person you do have."

The nymph stayed silent for a moment.

"I think it's be my decision if this is one of these times or not."


End file.
